![]() My Dock has only three icons: Finder, Downloads and Trash. Also check out Launchbar and Quicksilver to compare functionality. You can also extend Alfred’s functionality with third party extensions and global hot keys. I use the free version, but if you get the paid version you can control iTunes, see and save your clipboard history and email people, all directly from Alfred. You can also use the built-in Mac calculator and dictionary directly from Alfred. It’s the killer feature that makes it impossible for me to live without. There’s no need to switch to your browser to search Google, Wikipedia and Amazon for anything. One of the biggest ways in which Alfred excels is the way it can launch web searches directly from a keyboard shortcut. Spotlight is great, but it can be better. It’s one of the most indispensable free apps I have. AppCleaner does its very best to remove all remnants of an app from your system. ![]() Often preference and application support files remain on the file system which can add up to lost disk space over time. Sadly that’s not really where the story ends. I opted for the paid version to use Fluid apps in full screen mode, but the free version is just as great. Think about web applications like Gmail, Facebook, Campfire and Pandora all running the same way. I can now launch Docs from Spotlight, place it on the Dock, Force Quit if I need to and run it as a full screen app in Lion. Unfortunately, until Google releases a native Docs client most of us are stuck with using Docs in a browser tab, or are we? Meet Fluid, the app that lets you create a real Mac app (or “Fluid App”) out of any website or web application, effectively turning your favorite web apps into OS X desktop apps. If you asked me which is more indispensable, Google Docs or Gmail, I’d stare at you blankly. The paid version gets rid of the ads and lets you use multiple accounts. I used Gmail’s web app for years, but now that I’ve experienced Sparrow’s unified Gmail inbox for multiple accounts and built-in Dropbox support, I will get into a physical altercation with anyone that tried to make me use anything else. Mailplane came close, but Sparrow changed my life, for the better. Until Sparrow came along there were no good alternatives. It had to be a client specifically designed with Gmail in mind. Firstly, I am - like many of you - a massive Gmail fan, so not just any native Mac email client would do. It’s difficult for me to express in words the love I have for this email client.
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